Of Demons and Killers
by cuddleswithdoodles
Summary: Will Graham has a younger sister that is involved with the New watchers council with gifts and secrets as dark as her brothers. How will she factor into his life? How will our dear doctor take to these new and odd strangers? Rated T for now may go up


When the news that her father had escaped briefly she was in England in the middle of what would look like a death match to an out sider but was just some friendly one on one time with a friend. Zoey Graham and Dawn Summers loved moments like this, moments when they weren't just the brains of the unit but actually got to let go and prove they could hold their own. It was funny to think how different her life was from two years ago, two years ago she was a scared little girl that missed her brother while trying to get out from under his shadow. Being the sister of Will Graham was never an easy thing. With her brothers gifts... then their parents had passed leaving him to look after his young sister. Then four years ago things had started to get bad, Will got worse. He was never abusive or anything even close but he got more and more distant and never let her behind his shields, their interactions stayed to strained conversation and notes on the fridge. Then two years ago her power went online with a vengeance. A man had tried to attack her, the details where still to horrifying for Zoey to relive, he had her pinned to a wall then suddenly he was across the alley bloody and barely breathing. The theory was that when she was threatened it pushed past the barriers she had subconsciously put in place and protected her. After that she couldn't control it. If Will had been around more he may have grown suspicious of her new penchant for gloves and how she was always very careful of what she said. For example if she said I want that dress, the dress from the mall would end up in her hand without a second thought, that part was sort of nifty to a fourteen year old it was the shadows and light that terrified her. The same light that had blasted out of her that night in the alley behind the cinema and the same shadows that had made that man bleed. If she became upset one of the two would be unleashed. Thank fully Willow had sensed her magic and been determined to find her after Cordy had a vision. The two women had brow beaten the others into brining her here to learn her craft, their arguments being that Willow didn't want her to either loose control or learn on her own and end up like Darth Rosenberg and Cordy saw that she was needed in some fight along the line and that she was important to the cause. Giles was very glad they had retrieved her from Wolf Trap Virginia when they had she was on the verge of slipping and the magic taking a life of its own which would have had dire consequences. After an excuse of a boarding school for the gifted they brought her here to Althenea. It was a great shock that she turned out to be a ley line witch, it was a rare hereditary trait. They where thought to be extinct to the watchers council, how ever the Coven knew of only three remaining blood lines. It had taken work and hit and miss experiments to find out what she could do. Now she had a great control and wormed her way into the hearts of a great many people in the NSWC.

Zoey had been quiet shy, and a little bit broken when she first came to the Summers institute of gifted students. It had lasted a whole month till she met the other BRATS, now she was a part of the Scooby family and the AI gang as Connor or Dawn. Including making the oldest watchers hair turn grey and causing mayhem on occasion. So of course it was not something Giles was looking foreword to, the telling of Zoey about her mentors death. Althenea had become more of a mother to the girl who couldn't even remember her own that well. Zoey often said that if it wasn't for the older woman's guidance she wouldn't have survived her power seeing as how her mother had never taught her what it was, how to control it or respect it like all of the other Ley Line witches learned from their mothers.

" Sup Giles you have kicked puppy face." Zoey said as she fell into a stretching position like she had been taught, her nose went all the way to touch her knee as she waited for Giles to continue. Dawn was stretching as well a few feet from her. As she came back up she panicked slightly, Giles was cleaning his glasses which in and of it's self had the girls hackles rising. " What happened? Demon attack? Hell Mouth spewing in Cleveland? Apocalypse?"

" Yeah Giles you're starting to worry us, what with the Glasses cleaning." Dawn added in coming out of her own stretch.

" No nothing supernatural in origin." He replied putting his glasses back on. " You see it's..."

" Giles not really helping with the relieving of tension." Dawn said growing more worried.

" Why don't we sit?" He said leading the girls over to the bleachers. As the girls settled into their seats accepting bottles of PowerAde from the cooler they watched him waiting wondering why they where the only ones in on this conversation. " This isn't easy and it pains me to say it... I'm not even sure that Buffy or perhaps Willow shouldn't be in charge of this..."

" Giles Band-Aid." Zoey said grabbing Dawns hand absentmindedly. It was strange to her how quickly she had adapted to the Brats need to constantly touch, hell she had even grown to need it as much as they did. Or maybe she always had and hadn't realized it.

" Althenea was murdered on sabbatical to Salem last night." He blurted out waiting for it to sink in. " It was a human serial killer according to our friends in the FBI. They it was a killer your brother has been helping the FBI to capture."

It was quiet as the news sunk in. Dawn glanced at her shorter counterpart who had gone pale her pupils so big that her hazel eyes looked black, In the moments that had passed a thousand looks passed over Zoey's dainty features. If Dawn could she would pull the girl into her self but she couldn't so she just pulled the girl into her side.

" Do they have any idea who it was that killed her?" She asked suddenly. If the Gym hadn't been empty and dead silent they wouldn't have even heard her.

" No not as of yet." Giles said watching one of his children start to break, he hoped she was able to keep a leash on her magic. It wouldn't help any if she slipped and let it out of it's cage fully. Willow was prepared if she did of course but with the type of magic the petite brunette possessed it could very well fry her from the inside out. " Is there anything I can get you? Anything you need?"

" I'm going to take her to the lair. Giles can you round up the rest of the BRATS and maybe Spike or Faith?" Dawn asked taking control as she helped Zoey up and began leading her towards the doors of the gym. Giles had nodded and went to do as Dawn requested while he pondered the dynamics of that group he sought. If anyone knew how to help her and keep her in control it was the BRATS. It amazed even him sometimes how tactile the group was a whole. He assumed it was due to the fact that all of them had lacked at least one parent in their life from a young age. Even Dawn was a very tactile person these days. She had had Buffy and Joyce but it seemed that the key enjoyed a good cuddle as much as the other BRATS, to out siders it was a little off putting but around here it was just the norm. While the older Sunnydale denizens weren't as touch driven they still seemed to understand the younger groups needs as they had hunkered down together on occasion. It wasn't uncommon to find Spike of all people cuddled up to on the sofa of the lair by the children. Willow had done some research after it became apparent that the group was abnormally tactile, but oddly only with others within their circle or those they trusted. Not a single one of them liked to be touched by strangers or casual acquaintances. They didn't always feel a need a snuggle with Buffy or say Rhona but a simple touch on the shoulder wasn't uncommon and came to be accepted. While others like say Kennedy before she and Willow split up or most of the Slayers they avoided contact of the physical sort all together. Before he had fallen in with the BRATS Connor was a bitter young man to say the least, a psychotic time bomb at the worst now well he was still a bit unpredictable but one touch from one of the core of the BRATS and he simmered down. Willow's research showed it was sometimes common in survivors or people currently in a constant state of trauma but that it faded with time and was usually just inclusive of fellow survivors but not long with them and Zoey became as touch craving as the rest. Further mystical digging from the coven in Devon showed that the group had mystically bonded together, that they had a destiny as a whole but it was unknown what that destiny was as of yet Cordelia's words when they had sought out Zoey ringing even truer. As it was he was grateful for it, Zoey would need her connection to her group of people. He had enlisted Andrew to help and soon he was walking away to go fill his older group of children in.

Inside the Lair.

Dawn had sat Zoey down on the pull out bed of their specially designed sofa. It was still out from movie night last night and knowing their group they would all fall into it at some point during the day, honestly she didn't know why they bothered putting it away anymore. After settling the smaller brunette against the nest of pillows and throw cushions she set about making a cup of Chai Tea for Zoey. It always helped calm her down after a large spell or a particularly bad day, it helped that it smelled as good as it tasted and she had gotten half the BRATS hooked on it. It wasn't a surprise when Connor was the first to drift in, the Destroyer was border line psychotically over protective of 'his girls' sometimes as it was. With the new situation he was bound to hover, and brood, maybe break a few faces if need be oh and hover. Without a word he climbed in beside their tiny witch pulling her into his side. With a sigh the small brunette burrowed into the boys side head nuzzling his chest and wrapping her self around him. Dawn knew from experience that the girl was part Python she tended to wrap around who ever she could in their merry little band, it was worse when she was sleeping, Dawn would know seeing as how they bunked together most days especially since they made their relationship official going from flirty friends to girlfriends. When they told the older group they got a lecture about safety(mortifying) from Giles, an about time already from Cordy, another lecture from Buffy and hugs from Xander. It didn't come as a real surprise to anyone around the HQ in fact Spike and Xander had a bet going, Xander owed Spike fourteen Quid. Sighing Dawn went about making a pot of tea instead of just a couple of cups if Connor was already here Jordy would be here any second. As if summoned by her thoughts their red headed werewolf padded in dropping a kiss on her own cheek before dropping one on her girlfriends head on his way to their private shower. Pouring the tea from the finished pot into four cups she placed a tea tray on the side table climbing into the large bed on her girlfriends other side snuggling into her. Making her sit up she handed Zoey her tea doing the same to Connor. Time passed quietly as they sipped their tea and the others of their group filtered in. When Spike came in a while later to check in and find out what kind of chow they wanted the whole group was assembled. Jordy was across the first three to arrives laps, Cassie their seer was leaning into Connor, Dana the slightly insane slayer was in between the seers legs with her head on her stomach. Declan the half demon was getting his head petted by Jordy as it rested on the werewolf's stomach and the last of their core group and their active Slayer the one and only dark slayer was perched at the foot of the bad like thing that folded out of the pit sofa flipping through channels. In any other room and with any other group of people it would have been shocking but as it was the vampire was more often then not found in one of these puppy piles. The BRATS had adopted him self and Faith as part of what ever this was. He personally thought it was because the rest rejected them, not actively but with their histories the older groups didn't let them in. They where the protection emotionally, he would still be pining after Buffy and following her like a puppy if the niblet hadn't demanded he come help them and then the little bits just reeled him including the Poofters spawn he saw more than he was given credit for. They where both shunned by Angel, Spike for being Spike and Connor for sleeping with Cordy when the best happened what the AI gang didn't seem to get was Connor didn't have control either.

The BRATS accepted them with all their faults and past mistakes. Faith had taken to protecting them from day one and in return little by little the girls of the group got under her skin and behind her walls. Said slayer met his eyes, her doe eyes filled with worry. He couldn't blame her the littlest witch was scarily still which did not bode well. He could almost taste her magic in the air around them but no more than usual which with this girl could only mean that she had it leashed but he would bet it was hard won. With a glance to the top of her curly brunette head he came further in the room coping a squat on the back of the sofa by Dawn. His Niblet looked up at him and gave a slight smile then sent a meaningful look to her witch.

" How are ya feeling Dove?" He asked his favorite witch. She turned her head and looked at him, there was so much pain in those hazel eyes that if he had been breathing it would have halted it. She shrugged a little as she sat more fully up between her people. They may not know it yet but the three of them loved each other. Personally he couldn't wait for that conversation with Buffy and her group. Should be worth a few laughs he and faith where planning on selling tickets and popcorn for it. " What kind of chow you in the mood for? Ya gotta eat, all ya little Brats do and Giles thought it best you do it away from the super strong hormone bombs." She grinned a little at that, he had picked up calling the mini slayers that from her after all.

" Pizza. Our usual I suppose." She said barely above s whisper. " Spike can you ask Willow if she has time to meet me in the Atrium for a bit?"

" Yeah pet I was actually suppose to ask you the same thing while I was here she's a waiting for you. If you want i'll walk you there on my way back to the annoying Guestage."He said watching as she untangled her self from the pile of limbs and kissed her girlfriends forehead.

" Thanks. I'll be back guys, I just need to go find my center before I loose it." The girl said easing some of the worry. The walk to Atrium was quiet, the blonde vampire had taken the smaller witch under his arm as they walked and she put an arm around him. He left he with the red witch after the two witches had settled into their meditation and control exercises to find Giles and see what the hell this talk was of sending his Brats to Wolf Trap Virginia. 


End file.
